MAY 2024 NEWSLETTER
May is National Bike Month, and it's the perfect time to join Move Lebo! We welcome you to become part of the growing community of residents who believe safe streets for people-powered mobility make life better for everyone.
Welcome to our very first MoveLebo newsletter! We are so glad you’re here. Although we are only a few months old, we’ve been blown away by the support of the community, and we’ve loved hearing each of your individual stories.
What’s Move Lebo? Move Lebo is an advocacy group, initiated by residents, independent of the municipality, working to improve the quality of life for Mt. Lebanon residents. We are focused on pedestrian safety, traffic calming/road redesign and bike infrastructure. Mt.Lebanon is well positioned to reinvent itself as a leader in the region, demonstrating what is possible when you shift from a car-centric to a people-centric approach.
Earth Day Recap
Move Lebo said its official hello to the community at the Mt. Lebanon Earth Day celebration. We were blown away by the level of support and enthusiasm we received from our fellow residents. We want to say a very special thank you to BikePGH for supporting our efforts. Thanks to their generosity, we were able to host an incredible kid bike course. Loads of families visited the course, it was amazing to see the delight in both the children and adults. Our bike course provided a space for kids of all ages to discover the joy of biking. Several kids rode a bike for the very first time at our bike course and even better, some older kids who can't ride a bike (and thought they didn't like biking) discovered that they love the feeling of a balance bike! It exceeded our expectations! With your support, we look forward to building our own fleet of kid bikes and course supplies in order to host more kid bike courses in the future! We’d love to come and set up a kid bike course at your next neighborhood block party. Interested? Contact us for more info!
In addition to the bike course, we distributed e-bike resource guides, city maps, and family biking guides provided by BikePGH. We raffled off a gently used 20” REI kid bike and we had a make your own bike streamer/backpack keychain craft at our main tent. Who doesn’t love a good bike streamer?! Not only are they fun, they also increase visibility while kids Move (around) Lebo. Oh! And stickers...we have a pretty sweet stash of them!
Our Next Few Months
We’re working to create partnerships with key stakeholders such as community groups and nonprofits, local gov, business and property owners, the PTA and PTA council and residents like you. While the concept of improving our quality of life isn’t hard to support, the road to get there will be challenging. Your support will help us to reach the finish line.
We’ve outlined four focus areas for our group: Advocacy, Outreach, Education and Action.
Read more to discover which area you can help support.
Advocacy
We plan on working with local government and organizations such as the Department of Transportation to advocate for safer and more vibrant streets. This work includes the Active Transportation Plan, a Washington Road Redesign, and advocating in local schools.
Outreach
Our outreach arm is responsible for creating events and involving the community in fun experiences. We will have a signature event coming soon (stay tuned!)
Action
The action branch of Move Lebo is responsible for physical improvements to the community such as installing bike racks and enabling our other pillars via maintaining the website and managing our 501c effort.
Education
Our education arm will be creating maps and documentation of e-bikes and safe walking routes. In addition, the education team is creating resource guides for residents to engage with to help with taking the first step in addressing issues and concerns.
Ideas we’ve been cooking up - we want to hear from you too!
- E-bike voucher program
- Bike repair stations and bike racks
- Tactical Urbanism
- Pop up Move Lebo bike courses, coming to a Block Party near you
- Finding our collective voice to demand safer walking routes for our school children
- Making Mt. Lebanon a destination instead of a speed bump for drivers going into the city
- Traffic calming, what can we do to feel safe on our sidewalks and streets
- Biking meetup groups
- Signature Event - Lebo Style Open Streets, Neighborhood Keg Ride, etc.
Get Involved
What can you do to get involved today?
- Tell your family and friends about Move Lebo - share this newsletter.
- Join in the convo on Slack.
- Submit a safety issue or concern here!
- Use the power of your words - speak at an upcoming Commissioners Meeting and/or Mobility Board meeting.
Feeling frustrated that your daily lived experience does not match your expectation of a walkable community? We want to help our fellow residents enjoy the quality of life they came here seeking. We believe you should be able to move through Lebo simply and safely, regardless of what form of transportation you choose. We also share the reasonable expectation that our children be provided with adequate safety measures while walking to school, as walking is a requirement not a choice.
We are working to purchase bike racks and a bike repair station to place in prominent places around Lebo like Uptown. In addition, we are in the process of building our own fleet of bikes and bike course supplies to continue hosting pop up bike course events around the community. If you would like to make a donation toward purchasing the bike racks and repair station, you can do so on our Donate page.
Upcoming Events:
Monthly Move Lebo General Meeting:
1st Sunday of the month
10am @ Needle and Bean
Next: Sunday, June 2
Lebo Pride: Come visit us at the Move Lebo booth!
Mt. Lebanon Main Park
June 15th 8am - 4pm
Lebo Green Speaker Series: Move Lebo Panel Discussion & e-bikes
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
June 18th 7:00 - 8:30pm
Monthly Happy Hour:
TBD @ East End Brewing
We look forward to seeing you there and we thank you in advance for your support!
Together and Forward
@movelebo | movelebo@gmail.com | www.movelebo.com